Edited by Ayers (president, U. of Richmond) and Martin (U. of Richmond), this volume collects the proceedings of the Virginia Sesquicentennial of the American Civil War Commission's first annual Signature Conference "America on the Eve of the Civil War," held in April of 2009. Round table discussions involving 16 historians in panels of four each focused on: a broad political, demographic, cultural, and economic overview of the United States immediately preceding the Civil War; the state of the South and the slave trade in 1859 in relation to broader trends; John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry; and political culture and political party dynamics a year before the 1860 election. In addition to opening and closing remarks and panel discussions, edited transcriptions of two question-and-answer sessions are presented. The volume concludes with a review by a conference participant comparing the proceedings to 1961-65 Civil War centennial commemorations. This is a paperbound reprint of the 2010 edition. Annotation ©2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)